I went to Cave & Basin, looked at the exhibits then did a short trail walk - probably 2 or 3 miles. Then I headed over to Vermillion Lakes. As I was riding by the train station I noticed a Backroads van, so I stopped to see if I had the meeting time wrong. I didn't - they were just dropping off bikes. Vermillion Lakes was pretty, and flat. Next stop - the Mailboxes Etc. to pick up my by now expensive package. While I was repacking my panniers two climbers stopped by to talk. It's a small world. It turns out that they met Ron & Mandy (the couple from the UK who I met outside of Kalispell) at the hostel here a couple of nights ago.
I picked up a sandwich for lunch and headed over to the river to sit for a while. (See, I can sit still sometimes....)
I met up with the Backroads group at 3. It seems to be a good group of people. There are a couple of groups of 2 or 3 that came together, but everyone seems to be friendly. I felt like I was absolutely flying on the ride to Two Jack campground - it's the first time on this trip that I've ridden without all of my gear on the bike when I wasn't already tired from a 50+ mile day. I don't think I'll mind taking the weight back on the last day, but it's going to be a treat to ride some serious hills without the panniers.
One thing I found interesting when we all introduced ourselves to the group at dinner. One of the other women said that she finally grew up enough to take an organized tour instead of touring on her own. And I said the exact opposite! I've gone on a lot of organized tours and finally felt like I wanted the freedom of self-contained touring. I still think there is a place for both kinds of touring, and right now I'm leaning toward self-contained as my favorite. Of course, I'm sure I'll still enjoy the support this week!
I'm absolutely stuffed from dinner right now - what a treat to have someone else cook. We had tomato bisque, salmon, salad, cornbread, and berry cobbler for dessert. Yum! It will be interesting to see if I still wake up starving in the morning.
